(gentle guitar music) (lively upbeat music) [RHEA FEIKIN] The thousands of Jewish immigrants that came to Baltimore beginning in the late 19th century needed to eat.

They bought the staples for their unique dishes from the grocery stores lining Lombard Street, including picking live chickens for their pots.

But times changed and grocers started selling sandwiches.

Lombard Street became known as Corned Beef Row, and, well, the rest is history.

And we'll take a look at that history with Ted Merwin, the man who literally wrote the book on Jewish delis.

TED MERWIN:The brisket because my grandmother used to make the most mouthwatering brisket, and so when I eat a brisket sandwich, it reminds me of her.

[RHEA] But we'll focus much more on where the Jewish deli is right now.

From Attman's in Baltimore, a resolutely traditional deli, to the whimsically-named "Call Your Mother" in DC, which bills itself as a Jew-ish deli, you'll experience the full spectrum of takes on this classic concept.

And given how tough a business Jewish delis are, you've gotta be a little meshuga to own one.

We'll try to find out why these folks strive to keep the tradition alive.

I'll be joined by Ilan Kaplan-- ILAN KAPLAN: Is kugel Jewish lasagna?

[RHEA] And Marcellus Shepard-- MARCELLUS SHEPARD: Shalom, y'all [RHEA] As we eat our way on a Jewish deli road trip.

(lively upbeat music) RHEA: I'm Rhea Feikin.

Right now, let's take a look back in time.

I'm here in Baltimore at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, and it is just a stone's throw away from what was the hub of Jewish immigrant life in the 1900s.

Lombard Street, affectionately known as Corned Beef Row.

There are lots of exhibits here at the museum.

The one that we're in right now is called "Voices of Lombard Street," and coming here is really a great way to get a feeling for what life was like for the Jewish people in those days.

We're gonna be coming back here several times during the show to get really a historical perspective.

But to tell you the truth, I'm feeling just a little bit hungry, and just a short walk away from here is the oldest family-owned Jewish deli, in the United States, Attman's.

It's thriving and I think you're gonna see just why.

(lively upbeat music) For most businesses, adapt or die is a maxim to live by, but I think that the secret of Attman's success is absolutely refusing to change.

Sure, there've been additions to the menu here and there, but I think that a customer from when they opened in 1915 would feel right at home in this place today.

It's got what the Attmans like to call Attmansphere.

(lively upbeat guitar music) [RHEA] Time now for a chat with Mark Attman, the third generation to rule this temple of corned beef.

(people chattering) RHEA: Mark, Attman's has been Attman's since 1915.

That's a long run for any store.

What was Attman's like in the beginning?

Was it like this deli?

MARC ATTMAN: No, it was a grocery... a high-end grocery store with imported delicacies from all over the world, so they used to sell sandwiches.

Back then, it was an industrial town, people were walking to work, two-for-a-nickel every morning at five o'clock in a little brown bag.

At about 1933, we moved to this location.

RHEA: So it's slowly evolved into the kind of deli that it is now.

MARC: Exactly.

But it's always been busy.

We have always been busy.

I remember, I started coming down here when I was eight years old.

I was sitting outside talking to one of my friends, and my mother goes, "What are you doing?"

"I've been sitting here talking to David."

She goes, "I want you to go take the bus "and go down and help your father down at the store.

"He's busy."

RHEA: At eight?

MARC: At eight.

Gave me a dollar, went on the bus, never been on a bus in my life.

Took the bus.

The bus goes.

I go, "Can you stop right here?"

(Rhea laughs) Takes me to the stop about two blocks away.

I walked up, walked in, and that was it.

RHEA: Eight.

And you've been there ever since.

MARC: And it's been a part of everything I've done my whole life.

RHEA: Well, it's obviously a passion for you.

MARC: It really is.

RHEA: But you have another job, but that's not just a little job.

I mean, you're an optometrist.

MARC: That's right.

I'm celebrating my 45th year as an optometrist now.

RHEA: I can't believe it!

I mean, do you work day and night?

What is it?

MARC: Well, you know, I'm busy, thank goodness, and I take care of a lot of people, and so basically these businesses are basically taking care of people's needs.

So, and everyone achieves some satisfaction in what I do.

So when you're doing something where you make people happy and you're involved with satisfaction, which is one of the couple of things I learned from my father and grandfather, what could be better than that?

And I'm making a nice living.

I'm not complaining.

RHEA: Can you think back to when you were a kid and you were coming-- What's the picture of Lombard Street at that time?

MARC: We had everything on these two blocks.

What was interesting was we didn't just have like one aisle of delis.

We had six delis.

We had three pharmacies.

We had furniture stores.

We had clothing stores.

We had two or three creameries.

We had fish stores, chicken stores, but every store had its own expertise, so if you went into the chicken store and you wanted to get some corned beef, "Oh, you gotta go over to Attman's."

RHEA: So it was a real bustling place.

MARC: Fantastically busy.

Always.

RHEA: You're the third generation running this business.

MARC: Right.

RHEA: You're the third generatio running this business.I'd like y go back in time, and I wanna hear a little bit about Seymour and-- MARC: Harry.

RHEA: You're the third generatio running this business.Both of 'e MARC: Okay.

Well, Harry was my grandfather.

I learned some very good things from him.

Slow, but sure, you never get poor giving charity.

[Rhea] Two good things.

MARC: Have respect for people, always listen to what they have to say, and don't say no.

RHEA: They are words to live by.

RHEA: I have lived by those, 'cause I still remember 'em, 'cause I learned them my whole life from him.

RHEA: Did you tell your children that?

MARC: Absolutely.

They know it.

RHEA: I think it's great that you have sandwiches that have names.

MARC: Yes.

RHEA: What are some of the names MARC: Well, the Tongue Fu, that was my father's favorite name 'cause he came up with that.

We had the Whopper before Burger King had the Whopper.

A lot of family names.

I get yelled at when they're not there.

RHEA: Attmansphere.

That is what you talk about.

I love it.

What is it?

What's so special about it?

MARC: Well, I think first of all it's the smell when you walk in.

You're not gonna get that smell because everything we make here is fresh and the corned beef is always coming out.

Second is the people that you meet.

In most of our lives, you go to work, you meet the people at work, you go home, you go out to dinner, you see the same people.

Here, you have a chance to meet people and talk to people that you probably would never interact with.

And here you can do it.

So that's part of the feel.

And to know that in most cases, you had generations, either your parents or your grandparents, there's always someone that has been here that you know.

(plates clattering) (people chattering) RHEA: Have your customers change a lot throughout the years?

MARC: I think our customers have changed a lot because the world has changed, is more inclusive.

But Attman's has always been an inclusive place.

Growing up, we saw a lot of Italians here, okay?

'Cause my father grew up around here and his brothers, and all their friends were right over here in Little Italy, so they were friends.

Okay?

So my father always said he was half-Italian, half-Jewish.

They were always good friends.

But as the Baltimore population has changed, so has our clientele, but we're here for everyone, and we always have been here for everyone.

RHEA: So why is a Jewish deli Jewish?

MARC: Well, it's called Jewish d because they're selling the features of the Jewish delis but not strictly kosher.

All right?

Like all Jewish delis always had pastrami.

They always had corned beef.

They always had smoked fish.

They had whitefish salad.

But we added in the components of cheeses and creamery items like herring in cream sauce is a big thing.

But we incorporated all that.

So my grandfather, they gave us a hard time back in 1947, '48, the rabbis that were a little upset with us when we switched over to that side, but that was my father's idea and my grandfather agreed, and he still went to shul every Saturday, and he still walked around, and he was still an orthodox guy with my grandmother, and they lived their life, but his business was not, so that was it.

RHEA: All I can say is Seymour and Harry must be very proud of you.

MARC: Oh, thank you very much.

RHEA: And thank you very much for talking with us.

MARC: That's great.

Anytime.

It was my pleasure.

Thanks again.

Thank you very much.

It's always good to be with you.

RHEA: Thank you.

MARC: What a pleasure for me.

(upbeat music) [RHEA] What a wonderful man.

and what an interesting family, and what wonderful food.

Now, if you can't make it to Lombard Street in Baltimore, check out the Attmansphere at their other location in Potomac, Maryland, and their soon-to-open Harbor Point Deli.

But I see our intrepid corned beef travelers, Marcellus and Ilan, are here for their marching orders.

RHEA: And here are our two Jewish deli nomads.

Thank you both for stopping by.

ILAN: Are you kidding?

Any excuse to come to Attman's.

MARCELLUS: What he said.

RHEA: Now I wanna know are you r to eat your way across Maryland?

MARCELLUS: Absolutely.

Rhea, not being Jewish, is there anything a brother should be aware of?

RHEA: Don't worry about a thing.

By the end, you are gonna be dropping Hebrew and Yiddish words like a pro.

ILAN: (laughs) Now that I've gotta see.

MARCELLUS: Oh, it's on.

RHEA: And then we're gonna come back here so we can compare notes.

So, on your way, and don't forget to bring me back some matzo ball soup.

MARCELLUS: Anything for you, Rhe ILAN: What he said.

(all laughing) (waves breaking) (seagulls squawking) (lively upbeat music) MARCELLUS: So what do you think when you think of Ocean City?

Sun, surf, seafood, the boardwalk?

Well, we're asking you to think again because there's an absolute gem of a Jewish deli just up the road.

Rosenfeld's Jewish Deli.

From latkes to Reubens, they've got everything on their menu to satisfy even the most discerning Jewish deli fans.

Let's head inside and chat with owner, Warren Rosenfeld, about his mission to bring this to the shore.

(upbeat music) MARCELLUS: So Warren, Jewish Deli, Ocean City?

What prompted you to move here?

WARREN ROSENFELD: I retired here at the age of 57.

I was bored within a month.

I had worked 70 hours a week my whole life.

I thought I would enjoy riding my bike and working out every day and walking.

But I was gonna do that anyway.

My wife basically said, "Before I kill you, what is it that you want to do for the rest of your life?"

So I went with the Jewish deli, just started downloading menus from all over the country, seeing what they had in common, creating my own menu.

That was really the first step in the entire process.

MARCELLUS: And is this your only location?

WARREN: No, this was the original location, but I now have delis in South Bethany, Delaware, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and in suburban Wilmington, Delaware.

MARCELLUS: So Warren, looking at your menu, I love the fact that I'm seeing all of these different names on there.

What and who are these people?

WARREN: Yeah.

Every item is named after a relative, uncles, aunts, wife, children, cousins, and most of them have passed, and most of them have passed for decades.

So I have an Uncle Ralphie, Uncle Seymour, and Aunt Judy.

I have a Papa Joe who was my grandfather, Papa Sally was my grandfather, Mama Rose, Mama Fannie, those were my grandmothers.

But everybody attached to a sandwich is a real person.

My brother-in-law, Paul, that's the traditional Reuben.

He passed about a year and a half ago.

So it brings me great pleasure, and I get great emotion even today from my cooks yelling, "Hey, the Papa Joe is up."

"Hey, does that Uncle Seymour's have coleslaw?"

"How big is the Aunt Judy's?"

You know, that kind of thing.

It keeps these people alive in my heart, and it brings me great pleasure to hear their names every single day.

MARCELLUS: Nothing like paying homage to family, right?

WARREN: Right.

MARCELLUS: What is it that you have on your deli that kind of separates you from the run-of-the-mill Jewish deli?

WARREN: One thing that sets us a is I don't serve any shellfish products, I don't serve any pork products.

You go into some of the traditional delis, even though they're not kosher, and they don't mean to be kosher, they will serve pork products or shellfish, which is not kosher.

I'm not kosher here, but I felt that serving pork or shellfish would violate the sensibilities of even the average Jewish person, so I don't serve those.

Other than that, I wanted to have a Jewish food museum, so I have kishka, which we don't sell a tremendous amount of, but people are thrilled to see it.

I have kugel, latkes, lox, Dr. Brown's, everything you can imagine, everything a traditional Jewish deli would have.

Black and white cookies, U-Bet chocolate syrup, all of that stuff, I make sure that we have it here.

MARCELLUS: So I love all the Jewish touches that you have on your menu, but I also understand that you're somewhat of a scholar as well.

WARREN: Yeah, I don't consider myself a scholar, but I was given a two-year scholarship back in 2003 to engage in Jewish studies for a two-year period of time.

It was the Wexner Heritage Foundation, and it was all expenses paid.

We went to Israel, we went to other places, but when we graduated from there, they said to us, "The one thing we're asking you to do, "we've paid for everything for two years.

"The one thing we're asking you to do "is just pay the religion forward somehow.

"Pay it forward."

So when I retired and I was thinking, "Gee, maybe I'd like to do a Jewish deli," I also thought about the Wexner Heritage Foundation and thought this would be the way to pay it forward.

Put Jewish delis in places that traditionally have not had Jewish delis.

So when I opened Ocean City location, it was the only Jewish deli in a 4,000 square mile area.

When I opened the Rehoboth Beach location, it was the only Jewish deli in the entire state of Delaware.

And Rosenfeld's both in Wilmington, South Bethany, and, again, in Rehoboth, we're still the only Jewish deli in the state of Delaware.

And I feel that I've paid the religion forward in that respect.

MARCELLUS: That's awesome.

So you have this great brand with the Rosenfeld name.

One that you hold dear to your heart, and you think of your father every time you step into here, right?

WARREN: Right.

MARCELLUS: This is a part of your heritage.

You have all these locations.

What do you see as the future of the Jewish deli?

WARREN: I think the Jewish deli will always remain.

The population has dispersed, the suppliers have gone away, but I think there will always be people to carry it on even in a minuscule volume.

I mean, maybe you'll have 30 nationwide, I know there'll be states that don't have any, but I think there'll always be a Jewish deli.

You know, it's a beef-based menu.

As long as somebody's willing to process corned beef or pastrami, there's gonna be a Jewish deli.

(upbeat music) WARREN: Tell me why you stopped.

CUSTOMER: Because you have good and the service is great.

I like the place.

I have a place on the beach, I have a condo on 133rd Street, and we come down often, and I like stopping here all the time.

WARREN: Are you from New York?

CUSTOMER: New York City.

Yeah.

WARREN: How's the pastrami rate versus New York pastrami?

CUSTOMER: It's as good as New Yo and that's why I come here.

I like it because it's good.

WARREN: That's the best compliment you can give me.

CUSTOMER: I'm not giving it because I like you.

I'm giving it because it's good.

(laughs) I appreciate that.

CUSTOMER: And you gotta get an egg cream.

The egg creams here are the best.

Nobody else on the shore makes 'em.

MARCELLUS: What is it about the egg cream that's so good?

CUSTOMER: It's chocolate milk with fizzy water.

It's just a little something different.

So it's refreshing, but it's a little bit lighter than a chocolate milk, but when I think of an egg cream, I think of New Jersey, New York deli, and, say, it's the only place to get 'em around here.

CUSTOMER: If I know I get a good corned beef sandwich at the Jewish deli, that's where I go.

WARREN: This isn't our take on anything.

It's not that we added this ingredient.

This is standard, what you grew up on, Jewish food.

MARCELLUS: Well, there's nothing like that feeling of home, that's for sure.

WARREN: Well, you know, I've had people cry here, tell me that this reminds 'em of their mother, who's been gone a long time, or I'll have 70-year-old people tell me that they haven't had some of this food since they were bar mitzvahed at the age of 13.

And it's extremely satisfying.

I mean, the first month we were open, I had a guy cry.

He was eating matzo ball soup.

He said, "Never in a million years did I think "I'd be eating matzo ball soup on Coastal Highway in Ocean City."

And that's just a nice feeling that you're making a difference in people's lives.

[MARCELLUS] Rosenfeld's definite made a difference in my life.

I am not the same man after eating that blueberry cobbler.

MARCELLUS: Well, like my man War says on his website, "Shalom, y'all."

ILAN: No matter what you order in a Jewish deli, you've gotta get something to drink, right?

Now you might think, "All right.

I'll just have a Coke or a Pepsi."

No.

If you're gonna grab a bite at a Jewish deli, you have to pick up a can of Dr. Brown's.

(upbeat music) Dr. Brown's has been around since 1869.

It's older than Coke and Pepsi, and it's been helping people wash down their corned beef, brisket, and pastrami for over 150 years.

Now, the first flavor of Dr. Brown's was Cel-Ray, made from celery seeds.

Yeah, you heard that right.

Celery-flavored soda.

Now, originally it wasn't a soda at all, but a tonic.

A cure-all for supposedly everything from jangled nerves to curing malaria.

Now, how did it end up in Jewish delis, you may ask.

Well, it all has to do with this little K on the can.

Dr. Brown's was the very first kosher soda in the world.

And with Coke not becoming kosher-certified until 1935, it was a no-brainer that Dr. Brown's became a staple in Jewish delis.

Today, Dr. Brown's comes in seven different flavors, including the classic Cel-Ray.

My personal favorite is Black Cherry.

Now here's the mystery.

Who was Dr. Brown?

One legend has it that he was a doctor who treated immigrant children in New York City.

His mission was to treat bowel and stomach discomfort, but instead his tonic turned into the go-to drink at Jewish delicatessens.

Now, was he a real person or just a clever marketing ploy?

No one seems to know, but one thing's for sure.

Next time you go to a Jewish deli, make sure to grab one before placing your order.

(pop-top can popping) L'chaim, Doc.

(upbeat music) That's good!

(upbeat music) [Narrator] Hmm.

RHEA: I'm at the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

I'm here with Ted Merwin, and he wrote an incredible book with an incredible title, which was, Ted?

TED: Was "Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli."

RHEA: But you do a lot of other kind of writing as well?

TED: I do, I'm actually the senior writer for the Jewish Federations of North America now.

So I write speeches and I write op-ed articles, and I write a lot of different kinds of things about Jewish community.

RHEA: Ted, I think you're kind o a big picture kind of a guy.

So I wanna ask you what makes a Jewish deli Jewish?

TED: Actually, it's partly the food that's served there, and it's also in equal measure, if not more, it's the ambiance, it's the atmosphere of the place, which is typically very relaxed and convivial in which people really kind of feel very comfortable, and Jews I think really were used to being stereotyped in many ways in America.

And so I think the deli developed partly as a space where Jews could kinda let their hair down and be outside of the gaze of the majority culture and really kinda be amongst themselves in a very casual environment.

In many ways, it was a place where different kinds of Jews could come together.

Remember, we were saying Jews came from all different countries in Eastern Europe and they came here and they were all comfortable in the space of the deli.

They were coming with different cultures, with different languages.

They were for the most part, united by the fact that the majority of them spoke Yiddish, but they came with different food ways and different cultures, and they came to America and the deli became a place where I think a kind of unified American Jewish identity started to emerge.

And really having the deli be a kind of almost substitute for the synagogue.

I talk in my book about the deli as a kind of surrogate, or substitute synagogue where Jews who were not so religiously inclined could still have the enjoyment and pleasure of being part of a more secular Jewish community.

RHEA: And don't you think that there are a lot of non-Jews who go to Jewish delis?

TED: Sure.

I think, actually, I think the majority of the clientele for Jewish delis nowadays is people who are not Jewish.

RHEA: Wow.

TED: Because they're in parts of the country where there are lots of different people who are living there.

And Jews in many ways, I think, have really gravitated to all kinds of different cuisines, to Chinese food, and Japanese food, and everything.

Of course, things are different now because now we're much more attentive to the fact that there are Jews who come from all different backgrounds, that even though the majority of American Jews today are descended from that great wave of immigration at the turn of the 20th century, we know now that Jews come from all different countries, and all different races and all different ethnicities.

And so the nature of Jewish food is really changing.

Everything's become sort of a fusion of different gastronomic styles.

And that's true in the deli, and that's true in terms of peoples' tastes as a whole.

RHEA: So lots of things have changed.

What's the future for Jewish delis?

TED: I think they will always exist in some form or another.

I think they're changing a lot as tastes change, as there's more and more health consciousness.

And so nowadays you see in a lot of Jewish delis, you see a whole section of the menu for vegan and vegetarian food.

You see wraps and paninis.

You see a lot of Middle Eastern, you know, Israeli type of food like falafel and hummus.

And so it's really becoming kind of a smorgasbord in a way of all different kinds of foods that are connected in some way often to Jewish tradition, but not necessarily to that Eastern European Jewish heritage in particular.

MARCELLUS: While you can order a salad at most Jewish delis, and you can even find a vegan Jewish deli, if you look hard enough, for me, the real star of the show is the meat.

I mean, hey, just the word delicatessen says it all.

It's root is the Latin delicatus, meaning giving pleasure, delightful, pleasing.

And there's nothing that pleases me more than biting into an overstuffed deli delight, brisket, corned beef, pastrami, the big three.

Mwah!

But what exactly are they?

Well, for starters, they come from the part of the cow called the brisket, which covers the cow's breastbone.

Corned beef is made from the leaner flat brisket, while pastrami is usually made with point brisket, which contains more marbling and fat.

Why not sirloin or round from the hindquarters?

Cost for one.

Most cured meats began as a way for poor folks to enhance the flavor of cheaper cuts.

Also, kosher law forbids meat containing the sinew on the thigh on the hip side, because when Jacob was wrestling with an angel in Genesis, the angel touched his hip leaving him limp, which brings me to a very important point.

Never ever wrestle with an angel.

Now, after you've got your cut, you've got to cure the meat, which can take anywhere from two to four weeks.

Curing uses a salt nitrite blend called pink curing salt.

It's in brine to keep the meat from spoiling during the process, but also kicks up the umami a notch.

And it's why your sandwiches meat is pink and not gray.

Corned beef gets its name from the old English word for the large coarse pellets of salt that the meat was preserved in back in the day.

Then there's the spices in the brine.

The spices are similar for both corned beef and pastrami.

It might include garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, brown sugar, coriander seeds, allspice, cloves, mustard seed, or some extra ingredients that somebody's bubbe used to toss in.

Curing can take up to four weeks.

So like a lot of things in the deli business, you've got to be patient.

Now, once they're brined, brisket and corned beef are ready to cook.

Pastrami is a different story.

It gets a rub often of onion, garlic, pepper, and coriander, which gives it that black crust.

Then it's smoked at a low temperature for several days, which also starts to cook the meat.

Cooking is finished in boiling baths at the deli, and an expert can tell when it's done by touch alone, gotta be soft and jiggly before it's dropped into the steamers behind the counter, which also impart even more tenderness before it hits your mouth.

So after all this, what's the difference in taste between the three?

Well, visit a Jewish deli and find out for yourself.

ILAN: Ilan here.

We couldn't be further from the hustle and bustle of old Lombard Street in Baltimore.

Instead of live chickens sold in stalls, we're surrounded by venture capitalists, lawyers and engineers.

Yet in the middle of this modern suburban office park in Fulton, Maryland, there is a truly Jewish deli, but with a modern twist.

Let's step into Mikey and Mel's Famous Deli.

(upbeat jazz music) Harley Magden, you and your brother Aaron are the owners of Mikey and Mel's Famous Deli.

So who the heck are Mikey and Mel?

HARLEY: Mikey is actually my late father, and Mel is my late grandfather.

And when my father passed away a couple years ago, we thought it would be a crazy idea to come up with a deli named Mikey and Mel's.

We grew up going to delis as kids.

My father, my grandfather, they owned their own business.

They used to go there almost every morning just to eat, have some meetings, and we were kind of stuck sitting in the booth while they chatted business.

So we thought, Mikey and Mel's, it sounds like a deli.

We should do this.

ILAN: Do you think Mikey and Mel would be proud of you for following in their footsteps?

HARLEY: I think they definitely would be proud.

Maybe a little skeptical.

As a restaurant owner it's a tough business, and a deli is even tougher.

As you know delis are kinda becoming a thing of the past, but I'm sure he would be proud because he loved, loved a good corned beef sandwich.

ILAN: So it's obvious from everything from your placemats to the menu that this is a Jewish deli, but it's a little bit different from a traditional one.

So what's the concept here?

HARLEY: It is kind of a Jewish deli, but it's not kosher.

So it's like a modern twist on an old favorite.

And as you can see from around here, we have the old standby favorites, the matzo ball soup, the knishes, the coddies, but we also have a lot of new things, as you'll see on our menu, like barbecue brisket fries.

ILAN: That's crazy, what are you, meshugana?

HARLEY: I mean, a lot of this stuff is made from recipes that were developed 30, 40, 50 years ago from family members and friends.

So I think if you tried it you'd be able to tell, it feels like it's homemade.

We do make it here, it's not store bought.

And you can tell that, you can tell that in that.

You could tell that in the soups which are homemade.

You could tell that in the knishes, and all the bakery goods, too.

It just tastes different when it's fresh and when it's made with all natural ingredients.

ILAN: So who comes here to eat?

HARLEY: You know, a lot of people eat here.

You come here at lunch, you come here really early, you get the people that really enjoy a good sandwich, or a good breakfast meal.

The elderly couples that come in and spend a couple hours here, but you also get, there's a lot of businesses around here.

There's a lot of families after swim practice, after soccer practice.

So really it's an eclectic group of people.

[ILAN:] So it's not just Jews.

HARLEY: It's definitely not just ILAN: Do you feel that Jewish delis are a good way to connect world at large with a piece of Jewish culture?

HARLEY: Absolutely.

People really like ethnic food and Jewish food's no different.

And when people can go and try something that they normally can't try anywhere else people really enjoy it.

It's different and people like to experience different things.

And I think it provides, we provide the best of what kind of our culture allows, and there's some things that you really don't want people eating like the Gefilte fish or the borsch, but a good corned beef sandwich, a good pastrami sandwich, fresh sliced turkey, great bagels, bakery, pickles, those are things you wanna try out.

ILAN: My mouth is watering.

Okay, I've got a personal question.

Is kugel Jewish lasagna?

HARLEY: Ha, pretty much.

It's like a good Jewish cat, you know, Garfield's Jewish friend maybe.

(upbeat jazz music) ILAN: Wow, okay.

You've got a lot of pickles here.

So tell me, is having a pickle bar a Jewish deli tradition?

HARLEY: It's a tradition that you have pickles, right?

People traditionally have a plate of pickles as, like, a free appetizer.

So any good deli is gonna have a nice selection.

Some of them have a pickle bar.

We just wanna take it to the next level and carry 10 to 12 different varieties of the freshest pickles we can find.

And that's what you see here.

We have everything from the half sours, really hard to find, only last a couple days, to the full sour, to pickled items like tomatoes and beets, and some new favorites like horseradish pickles, and health salad, which by the way, is neither healthy or a salad.

ILAN: Tongue.

(upbeat jazz music) ILAN: All right, let's end this with the ultimate Jewish deli test, the matzo ball soup.

All right, let's see.

Hmm.

Hmm.

Oh my God, that's better than bubbe's.

Uh, don't tell her I said that.

(upbeat jazz music) MARCELLUS: Marcellus here in a semi-industrial part of Rockville, Maryland.

Now you might ask, what does that have to do with Jewish delis?

Well, it happens to be home of the appropriately named Corned Beef King.

Let's head inside and meet owner, Jon Rossler, to find out why he's keeping this delicious tradition going.

(cheerful music) The first thing I notice about Jon is that he's the hardest working man in show business.

This is not the kinda guy to come in once a week to pick up the receipts.

He seems most alive when he's slinging some corned beef.

The second thing I noticed was that his food looks great.

The third thing I noticed was that his food tastes as good as it looks.

MARCELLUS: So, Jon, legend has i you were born in the hospital, came out of the womb taken immediately to the restaurant.

Right?

JON: That's not exactly how it went, but I'd just say it's definitely in the DNA.

MARCELLUS: Tell me the history h JON: My father was in furniture business and had a yen for food and was always looking for a place in the back of his head and found an ex donut shop on Nebel Street in Rockville, Maryland.

When he saw that place, he fell in love, He went to my mother and said, "Hey, let's open a deli."

And asked his parents for a loan of $10,000, signed the lease, and that was the beginning of the Celebrity Delly legacy.

MARCELLUS: And your father, may he rest in peace.

[JON] Yes.

MARCELLUS: How proud was he to have you be a part of the family business?

JON: Very proud.

Not mention being in the restaurant business, I didn't realize how much the food had permeated me.

I just sort of knew how to make everything, even though not generally working it until later in life.

And he asked me to be the general manager of the Virginia restaurant.

I was there for nine years, but during that time the food truck industry started blowing up and I realized there was no corned beef food trucks out there.

I said instead of being stuck inside a restaurant all day, I'd like to go out on the road and serve, and I think we'd be a phenomenon and turned out to be pretty true.

MARCELLUS: So what is so special about what you did?

JON: The heart of the delicatess the knish, matzo ball soup, corned beef, pastrami, let's say, hand carved turkey for those who have never tried corned beef or pastrami would still have something to try.

That cuts out all the peripheral things, which in my opinion is the downfall of the deli today because of the high labor, high food cost, spread out through the menu, it is extremely difficult to run a delicatessen.

And as you can see delicatessens falling off one by one.

MARCELLUS: Wow.

JON: So cutting off, let's say, let's cut off the fat, make it lean.

[MARCELLUS] Right, right.

JON: And aim at the heart of delicatessen is what I'm attempting to do here at Corned Beef King.

MARCELLUS: So you have two food you're out there serving it up, but where did the idea come from in the first place?

JON: Seeing the food truck industry in Washington, D.C. is just an amazing thing to see.

I mean, it just came outta nowhere.

And in five years you see these trucks lined up along the thing and there was no food truck with corned beef on it, I didn't wanna be in an office all day.

I was tired of being at one place all day.

I love interacting with people.

I thought it would be the perfect thing for me.

And I could see a Corned Beef King food truck in every town across America.

MARCELLUS: Wow.

JON: That was the dream.

I've had ups and downs.

I'm re-imagining the dream now.

I've slimmed down the menu on the food truck.

It's just that the labor gets you in this business.

If you're in a spot and the labor is a third, and food is a third, and the power and the rent, all these other things come into play, I'm going in a different direction and I will see a Corned Beef King truck in every town in America, so.

[MARCELLUS] Well, that is definitely something to look forward to.

JON: Yeah.

MARCELLUS: You also have an award-winning Reuben egg roll.

[JON] We have an award-winning Reuben egg roll.

[MARCELLUS] Whose idea was that?

JON: I don't know.

People are gonna say that it existed before, but I swear I made it up.

I swear I made it up and now they're everywhere.

[MARCELLUS] I've seen steak and cheese egg rolls, but I've never seen a Reuben egg roll.

JON: Right.

MARCELLUS: So delis all over the but what, in fact, makes a Jewish deli Jewish?

JON: It's the crowd that shows u MARCELLUS: But it's not always j Jewish folk that come here.

JON: No, it's definitely not.

Although that's where there's a lot of noshing going on when Jewish folks get together and make big business deals and talk about family.

And they say that my father's restaurant, Celebrity Delly in Rockville on Nebel Street was where all the deals got made in Rockville.

MARCELLUS: Hmm.

JON: It started in 1975 and there was just, every morning it was called the Breakfast Club there, and a bunch of well-to-do Jewish lawyers, doctors, real estate people would all sit there.

I'm pretty sure they created Rockville how it exists today.

MARCELLUS: All from sitting in t JON: They love to nosh.

That's a very integral part of the business.

[MARCELLUS] Talking with the man was a real eye-opener.

I knew the Jewish deli business was tough, but Jon really brought it home for me.

And yet there was this obvious love there, a sense that he wouldn't be happy doing anything else.

JON: So this is the horseradish Russian.

MARCELLUS: Okay, so not regular.

JON: It's our Russian that we make here, but we add extra horseradish to it.

MARCELLUS: Gotcha, so it got a little kick to it.

JON: Angry identity crisis, correct.

Now I'm gonna put some regular Russian too because in our- MARCELLUS: Balance it out.

JON: In our philosophy you cannot get enough Russian dressing onto a Reuben.

MARCELLUS: I normally have one o the side too, so, yes.

JON: That's right, all right, so we got pastrami first.

MARCELLUS: All right.

[JON] A nice tight scoop of delicious pineapple coleslaw.

[MARCELLUS] Oh shucks, pineapples.

[JON] I just gave away my ancient family secret.

[MARCELLUS] So if you're ever hungry in Rockville, or wanna purple Jewish deli on wheels to pull up to your event, drop in, order out, or give a call to Corned Beef King MARCELLUS: because you just neve where a Jewish deli is gonna pop up.

RHEA: Okay, I've got a joke for A guy goes into a Jewish deli and he goes right over to the dessert case.

The owner of the deli comes over and says, "May I help you, sir?"

And the guy said, "Well, the desserts all look good, but I can't even pronounce their names."

Well, if you're like that guy it's no joke, but don't worry 'cause we have a quick guide for you so that you can order like a pro.

[RHEA] Challah, this braided slightly sweet bread sits at the center of the weekly holiday Shabbat, where sections are torn off and shared around the table.

It's made with braided dough, brushed with egg wash, and sometimes topped with sesame or poppy seeds.

Challah is also used during services, bringing in the New Year during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

And if you've never tried challah French toast, you don't know what you're missing.

Hamentashen are crunchy, crumbly, just sweet enough cookies with the center filled with sweet poppy seed, or fruit fillings or chocolate.

Hamentashen are usually eaten during the Jewish holiday Purim.

These triangular treats represent the ears of the villain Haman, who tried to destroy the Jewish people.

Every bite reminds them of their sweet victory over that very nasty man, but you don't have to attend a Jewish holiday celebration to enjoy babka.

Next to challah it's the most purchased item in Jewish bakeries.

It's prepared with a yeast leavened dough that's rolled out and spread with a filling such as chocolate, cinnamon, fruit, or cheese, and then rolled up and braided before baking.

Rugelach is a baked confection originating in the Jewish communities of Poland that's also popular in Israeli cafes and bakeries.

Traditional rugelach are made in the form of a crescent by rolling a triangle of dough around a filling, such as chocolate, jams, as well as nuts, honey, and even spices.

One suggestion, have this dessert with a cold glass of milk.

Mandelbrodt or mandel bread is a close relative of Italian biscotti.

The word, mandelbrodt, is from the Yiddish meaning almond bread, which is one of the most common ingredients.

They're twice-baked just like biscotti, giving them their dippable, crunchy goodness.

Every baker has their own twist on them, but you can usually find them with added almonds, walnuts, cinnamon, chocolate chips, or diced candied fruit.

Give 'em a dunk.

Let's take a savory detour for a second and talk knishes.

These square or circular snacks go great as a side dish, or as a meal in themselves.

They can be baked or fried, and traditionally come with fillings of potato, kasha, or cheese, but tradition schmadition, try them with spinach, chicken, sweet potatoes, and much more.

The Knish Shop in Pikesville, Maryland might be a good place to start.

I never met a cookie I didn't like, and one of my favorites is the Linzer cookie.

It hails from Linz, Austria, and could very well be the world's oldest cookie.

Fruit preserve is sandwiched in between two cookies and topped with powdered sugar.

Now, while there are plenty of imitators, you'll find some of the best examples in Jewish delis and bakeries.

Kichel, ah, kichel.

They're bow tie shaped cookies with sugar baked on top.

You can usually find them by the bagful when you walk into most Jewish bakeries.

And I can't go to a Jewish bakery or deli without grabbing a black and white cookie on the way out.

These cookies have a fluffy cakey base and are decorated with half vanilla icing and half chocolate icing.

Yum, how can you go wrong?

Got that straight?

If not, don't worry, just point.

(upbeat music) [ILAN] It's really nice to meet you, Rabbi.

I was wondering if I could ask you a question.

[RABBI] Sure, anything you want.

ILAN: So we're in a Jewish deli, but we know the food isn't necessarily kosher.

But the fish is kosher?

I mean, what's the deal with that?

RABBI AXLER: So the story is that fish, so long as it's a kosher fish, which is a much longer answer than you want for right now, so long as it's a kosher fish, it does not need to be slaughtered in a particular way.

It does not need to be prepared in a particular way.

It is kosher, fish in and of itself, and it also has a really interesting property: fish is neither meat nor dairy according to Judaism.

And so a fish that's a kosher fish is inherently going to be fine if you're in a dairy restaurant, a meat restaurant, or, like Mikey & Mel's is, a Jewish deli that serves both.

ILAN: So Scott, I wanted to ask you about the fish.

I think a lot of people would be befuddled about all the different kinds of lox and fish here.

Even some Jews might have to admit they don't know what's the difference between Nova and salty lox.

SCOTT SCICCHITANO: So before we get into the differences, we should talk about what they have in common.

So both of these fish are a prime example of cold smoke process, but also, they're cured in salt.

And the main difference between the Nova salmon and the salty lox is that Nova salmon has a less salt contact for curing, which gives it a more richer, smokier flavor, whereas the salty lox, it's covered in salt for many more days, giving it that really, really, that firm salty flavor.

ILAN: Okay, makes sense.

Salty lox, saltier.

So how do you get kippered salmon?

SCOTT: Kippered salmon is an example of hot-smoking fish, which means we're smoking it with some hickory chips or some kind of chips, and they're doing it under heat, which, in essence, is smoking baked salmon.

ILAN: Here's another one.

I see you have some sablefish up here.

What is that?

SCOTT: So the sable is one of the staple delicacies for a Jewish deli.

It's black cod, and it's also a process of hot smoking as well.

So they get this black cod and they'll season it and then they'll smoke it under low heat for many, many hours.

It's like butter, you know?

Even cutting through this is, it's amazing.

It's an amazing fish, and people tend to gravitate to this place just to get a pound of sable.

ILAN: I love it, but I think people want to know, why is herring a thing?

SCOTT: So the origins of it, I couldn't tell you, but what I do know is that our more experienced, older patrons come in droves for the herring.

I get phone calls about it all the time.

We sell it two different ways.

We have it chopped, which is, it's minced herring, basically, with some applesauce and some seasoning, and we also sell it as creamed where it comes with onions and it's in a heavy cream.

ILAN: And honestly, I am falling for this place hook, line, and sinker.

(upbeat music) [MARCELLUS] Lenny's here in Owings Mills, Maryland, is a family affair, with current owner, Alan Smith, running it with his father until Lenny passed away in 2019.

But Lenny is still very much a presence here.

(upbeat jazz music) MARCELLUS: So Alan, I understand opened this deli with your dad, and he's no longer with us, but tell us about Leonard B. Smith.

ALAN SMITH: My mother had passed and my father wanted something new, so he decided, for some reason, to open a deli.

And, you know, a lot of people think that my father was here for years, which was the plan.

The plan was let's call it Lenny's 'cause he was in his 50s and I was 20-something.

We wanted people to have the illusion that he'd been in the business for 30 years, which wasn't the case at the time.

You couldn't beat him in here in the morning.

We opened at seven.

If I wanted to, like, you know what?

I'm gonna come in at five 'cause I'm tired of him being here before me, and I'd get here, he'd already be here.

You could not beat him here, and I don't care what time, I don't know when he came, at two o'clock in the morning.

He was a hard worker.

He was a do-it-myself kind of a person, not a delegator, which is a lot different than my style, but he got the job done and people really loved him.

He was the face of the store, and really, even though he's gone, he kinda still is, and I was kinda the back-of-the-house guy.

And he was a great guy.

I miss him every day.

It's tough to come in here every day when I spent 30 years with him here every single day and have to see all the reminders, but I guess in the long run, it's a good thing.

MARCELLUS: Well, it's great that have this picture on the wall to pay tribute to him.

What kind of interaction did he have with the customers then?

ALAN: Customers loved him.

A lot of them came to his funeral.

After the funeral, with the procession to the cemetery, we drove by the store and everybody came outside, was cheering and waving and they were honking horns.

You wouldn't have found a more honest, hard-working man than that man.

So hopefully I can be half that person.

MARCELLUS: Incredible.

Tell me about some of the people who eat here.

ALAN: All walks of life come in here, you know?

Every religion, you know, every race, everybody.

It's just a really wide, diverse crowd.

Back in the day, it was probably more, you know, I would say, more of a Jewish clientele because of the neighborhood, but the neighborhood's changed, and it's really great, especially in these times as, you know, the diversity that we have, and, you know, it's been really good.

MARCELLUS: So you've got matzo ball soup on the menu, kippered salmon and other fish items, but I'm also noticing on your catering menu that you have more traditional Jewish items on there like noodle kugel, knishes, and, my favorite, chopped liver.

Are you finding that people are only eating more traditional Jewish items on special occasions?

ALAN: For the Jewish holidays, t get that a lot of the time, and when someone passes away in a Jewish religion, it's called a shiva house, and people will send food in, they'll send, you know, fish and things, you know, kugels and knishes and things like that.

During the holidays or during times of gathering, even good times, Mother's Day, Father's Day, they'll get that kind of stuff, when the families get together.

Jewish families are known for getting together probably as much or more than any other group of people, but when they do, that's the kind of food they generally will go for.

MARCELLUS: 30-plus years in this business, what do you see is the future of Jewish delis?

ALAN: Well, you know, it's a high labor, high food cost business.

It's not the best business model in the world, and the future, unfortunately, is not bright for delis.

But I wanna emphasize, those of us that are still around, I don't know about anyone else, but, you know, we're fine.

We're doing really well.

We've never been busier, ever.

(upbeat jazz music) [MARCELLUS] One of the cool things about Jewish delis is meeting new people like Sherry Unger in line.

SHERRY UNGER: If given the chance of a fine restaurant or a Jewish deli, I choose a Jewish deli.

MARCELLUS: So what is it about the Jewish deli that separates them from the other restaurants?

SHERRY: I love the food, always did, and I grew up on it.

Every single Sunday of my entire childhood, we went over to my grandmother's with all of the cousins and we had delicatessen every single Sunday.

MARCELLUS: Wow.

SHERRY: So I grew up on it.

I love it.

I do.

[MARCELLUS] Sherry invited me for some kibitzing with her friends, Harriet Cochen, Ina Dreiband, and Sharon Kushner.

SHERRY: Sharon, hi.

SHARON: Oh, hi.

SHERRY: I'm glad you came in.

Sit with us.

MARCELLUS: Please come on in.

SHARON: Wow.

Oh, everything looks great.

MARCELLUS: And how are you doing SHARON: I'm good.

I'm hungry.

MARCELLUS: I'm glad you bought an appetite.

We'll have to get you some food.

SHARON: Okay, that sounds good.

MARCELLUS: Now, you know, we've been looking around all over the place for Jewish delis and we're really starting to see that, you know, there aren't many in this day and age.

What role do you think the Jewish deli plays in keeping the tradition of Jewish foods alive?

SHERRY: Well.

HARRIET: I think it played, I think it played a big role, but I also think that it's been declining over years.

And I think that a lot of that had to do with people being more health conscious, you know?

And when, obviously I don't watch, I'm not health conscious.

MARCELLUS: Having the fatty part of the chicken- HARRIET: Right, the fatty- MARCELLUS: On your chopped liver HARRIET: Right, right.

So, but I really think that that had a lot to do with it.

MARCELLUS: How about you?

INA: I think so too.

SHERRY: No, I agree with Harriet, and it's a shame.

It's a shame.

It's our childhood and it really is, and we'd love to pass it on to the future generations and they are dying out, they really are.

[MARCELLUS] Jewish delis may be struggling, but it sure doesn't look like Lenny's is.

Why not stop by for a bite of tradition?

Just don't forget to pay your respects to Lenny on your way out.

(bright music) [RHEA] Just across Lombard Street from Attman's is a little street you might not notice, Horseradish Lane.

The name recognizes the business that Harry and Lena Tulkoff and their family built from a little grocery store in the 1920s.

But instead of the store morphing into a deli as Attman's had, Harry and Lena turned to food production and distribution.

And while the company is no longer called Tulkoff's Horseradish Products and creates many different things, this impressive facility in Baltimore County is the house that horseradish built.

Theirs truly is an American success story.

Tulkoff's is still very much a family business.

Phil Tulkoff is Harry and Lena's grandson and is the president of Tulkoff Food Products.

RHEA: You know, I can remember when I always had a jar of Tulkoff horseradish in my refrigerator and any deli you went to also had the horseradish.

That was a long time ago.

What did we use the horseradish for besides making the gefilte fish taste better?

PHIL: Well, I agree with you.

I think that's the only way you could get gefilte fish to go down if you ask me.

But I think, you know, beef I think is the main use for horseradish.

Our staple tiger sauce, which was horseradish and mayonnaise, was for prime rib.

And people still use straight horseradish for pit beef today.

RHEA: So white horseradish, red horseradish, the difference?

PHIL: Color.

So back in the day, the tradition was literally to grind beets in with the horseradish to make it red.

Today we use beet juice and it's really just a coloring.

So I hear people have a preference one way or the other, but in truth, it's really the same product in just a different color.

RHEA: Do you like horseradish?

PHIL: I do, I do.

RHEA: Do you still use it?

PHIL: I do, and I'll do beef like I mentioned before, but I also even like it on poultry, like chicken or turkey.

RHEA: Uh-huh.

Well, you know, there is still a tradition for your horseradish and that comes around Passover because you make horseradish that's kosher for Passover.

Do you make any other kosher foods?

PHIL: Most of what we make is kosher.

We only have a small group of products that are not kosher.

And for instance, pesto, we do a pesto for food service that has a cheese in it that's not kosher.

We could substitute a kosher cheese, but then it becomes very, very expensive and probably wouldn't sell.

But the vast majority of what we produce out of this facility is kosher.

RHEA: I wonder, do you still fee like you have a connection to Lombard traditionally?

PHIL: I'll use the old pun that it's definitely our roots.

So horseradish will never not be a part of what we do.

Believe it or not, it's not the number one product anymore.

It's second to the garlic items we sell.

But it's still a major, major component of what we produce and obviously what people know us for.

RHEA: So what would your grandfather have thought of this facility?

PHIL: I think they probably woul been a little overwhelmed.

I mean, while it was still growing when they were alive and somewhat automated, we've kind of moved beyond that by leaps and bounds.

RHEA: Phil, how has your business changed?

PHIL: So the biggest part of it has been growth over the years.

We've gotten a lot larger.

We pretty much command the food service industry and the garlic and horseradish markets and we sell to most restaurants, caterers, and hotels in the country.

But another big part of our growth has been co-pack or co-manufacturing where we're making other people's products for them.

So it's a lot of national brands on the shelf that you would recognize but it doesn't say Tulkoff anywhere on the package.

RHEA: Do you have some memories of working here or being here when you were a kid?

PHIL: Sure, so my earliest memor would be probably seven or eight years old, and during the summer, I would try to go down with my dad every once in a while to the factory and spend the day with him.

He got up really early.

He opened the factory in the morning, so he was up at 4:00 a.m., and we'd get out the house and drive down to the factory.

I remember one of my favorite parts of going to work was lunchtime because we were directly across the street from Attman's and we would have an Attman's corned beef sandwich for lunch.

(upbeat jazz music) [RHEA] So the next time you need a little kick in your food, reach for the horseradish.

It probably comes from Tulkoff's.

(upbeat jazz music continues) (lively music) ILAN: You know, Marcellus, in the history of civilization there are a few innovations that have been giant leaps forward for humankind.

MARCELLUS: Ilan, you mean like taming fire?

ILAN: Yeah, or the wheel.

MARCELLUS: Huh, you don't think there's one we both agree surpasses them all?

BOTH: The Baltimore hotdog.

ILAN: That's right, you start of with a high-quality, all-beef dog.

[MARCELLUS] And a good bun.

[ILAN] Then you add corned beef, salami, bologna, or pastrami (chuckles).

[MARCELLUS] Pastrami.

MARCELLUS: Yeah, but don't stop We gotta talk about the toppings.

ILAN: Oh, yeah, sauerkraut.

[MARCELLUS] Melted cheese [ILAN] Coleslaw.

[MARCELLUS] Yes, baby!

ILAN: Marcellus, to what Einstein of Jewish delis do we owe this remarkable invention?

MARCELLUS: The late and very lamented Nathan Ballow.

I think it was back in the 1940s.

ILAN: Well, I think we gotta start a fund for a statue.

BOTH: Agreed.

ILAN: Oh.

ILAN: What, are you such a big s you can't call your mother?

It's an old chestnut of Jewish humor, one I've certainly heard my fair share of times.

What's not old is the line of Call Your Mother Jewish delis here in DC.

Are they your traditional Jewish deli, with matzah ball soup, Reuben sandwiches, and chopped liver?

Absolutely not!

But here at its location in hip Georgetown, no one seems to care.

Let's go inside and find Andrew Dana, the co-owner, to try to figure out what makes his take on Jewish delis so popular.

ILAN: All right, Andrew we've he that the latkes here are incredible.

ANDREW DANA: Mm-hmm.

ILAN: Can we try some?

ANDREW: You know, what's funny i I actually have some in my back pocket, never leave home without them.

ILAN: Oh, my god.

ANDREW: We have a little sour cream here, which I'm not gonna let you try, 'cause I think that's gross, I'm more of an applesauce man.

ILAN: Cool.

ANDREW: So rip it up and get in there, do a little dunky-dunk.

ILAN: Oh, man!

I would love to.

(lively music) Oh, my god!

All right, we have to stop the show.

This is incredible!

Is the apple sauce homemade?

ANDREW: Applesauce is absolutely homemade.

Local apples, baby.

Mm, that's a good bite.

ILAN: Oh, my god, this is better than my Aunt Amy's.

Sorry, Aunt Amy.

(lively rhythmic music) ILAN: What inspired you to open Call Your Mother?

ANDREW: Yeah, I think it started when I was a kid.

My dad, growing up, used to always say to me, like, "I wish I had opened a deli," so that was sort of instilled in me from a young age, and some of my fondest memories are visiting my grandparents in Boca Raton and going to these classic Jewish delis, so when it was time to sort of come up with a new concept, we started with, like, the deli, and then we wanted to put sort of our own modern, sort of fun twist on it, a la Call Your Mother.

ILAN: So you guys market yourselves as a Jew-ish deli.

What exactly does that mean?

ANDREW: Yeah, I think there's a couple of parts to it.

One is that I describe myself as Jew-dash-ish.

My dad's Jewish, my mom's not.

I would visit my Jewish grandparents in Boca Raton, for, you know, the high holidays, and then I would go to my mom's parents in Philadelphia for Christmas, so I sort of grew up in between these two cultures.

The other thing is, when we were coming up with the menu, we sort of had this epiphany that if you go super classic, you're competing against nostalgia, right, and you're never gonna beat somebody's grandmother's matzah ball soup, even if you make the best matzah ball soup, so we said, instead of trying to play this game and compete against nostalgia, let's put our own sort of modern twist on things, and we thought the name was perfect.

ILAN: What's a dish on the menu that you think exemplifies that?

ANDREW: I think a bagel sandwich that's been on the menu since day one, it's called the Gleneagle, which is actually the retirement home my grandparents lived in in Boca.

(Ilan laughs) It's a Za'atar bagel, with candied salmon cream cheese, which is 50% candied salmon, which is hot smoked, so it's, like, flakier than your typical smoked salmon, cucumbers and crispy shallots, so I think that's like a, you know, it has your salmon, and it's on a bagel, but it's a Za'atar bagel, and it's done in a different sort of twisty way, so I think that's a good example of the Jew-dash-ish take.

ILAN: Okay, let's get serious.

What do you see as the future of Jewish delis?

ANDREW: Whoo, yeah, I mean, I think there's always a place for, like, the super-duper classic deli, right, and people love sort of doing a walk down memory lane, but I think, like all cuisines, there's always room for sort of new takes and adaptations, and I think Call Your Mother's a good example of how you can sort of, you know, honor some of the classics and do a great job at making bagels, and, you know, we do great high holiday catering, but also sort of have some fun with it, and do some modern twists.

ILAN: We sort of think of American Jewish delis as carrying on this kind of grand tradition.

Do you think that Call Your Mother is moving that forward as well?

ANDREW: Yeah, I mean, I hope so, right, and I think, you know, we are always focused on sourcing the best products and keeping the quality, you know, top-tier, and creating great service, and at its core, that's what these Jewish delis are about, so whether we're doing a couple of, you know, fun twists, or not, like, I think we're absolutely a part of that lineage.

ILAN: We love the name.

ANDREW: Thank you.

ILAN: Do you call your mother of ANDREW: Every single day.

I grew up in DC, so my mom still lives close to me, and she's actually the granny dog-sitter for my dog, so when we go to work, I drop the dog at my mom every day, so I call my mom every morning.

[ILAN] Andrew's ever-expanding Jew-ish empire now also encompasses six locations in the DC area, one in Virginia, one in Colorado, and a trolley in Bethesda.

A trolley in Bethesda?

ILAN: If people don't come to your deli, put your deli where the people are, and there are a lot of people at the National Institutes of Health here in Bethesda, Maryland.

Come lunchtime, a lot of them cross the street to get to the very charming Call Your Mother trolley.

(lively rhythmic music) ILAN: Yes, ma, I'm eating enough, I promise you.

There's a sandwich right in front of me.

It's on challah.

Okay, look, I'm working, I gotta go.

All right, love you too, bye.

You never know when you're gonna find a good Jewish deli.

[GROUP] Call your mother!

Whoo!

(chiming music) MARCELLUS: Let's talk coddies.

(upbeat music) Now, if you were born in Baltimore in the 20th century, you already knew what I'm talking about, but for everyone else, I'm talking about a poor man's crab cake.

But hey, that's really doing these bad boys of disservice, because they are absolutely delicious.

Now, the recipe for these may vary from person to person, but essentially, you need a little bit of salt cod, or none at all, some potatoes, milk, some crackers or bread, some light seasoning, and then they're hand-formed into these cute little patties before they're deep fried.

Ooh whee!

So here we are in the kitchen where all of the greatness and magic happens.

I'm joined here with the coddie queen, Miss Shirley Royal.

How we doing today?

SHIRLEY: We're doing great, great, great, great.

MARCELLUS: So you are in the mix right now, and before we hop into the artwork of what you're doing, tell me what goes into a coddie.

SHIRLEY: Well, we do the, see the bagels there, we rip off the bagels that we used from yesterday... left over, MARCELLUS: Okay.

SHIRLEY: ...and we grind them, w mashed potato, potato flakes, and Old Bay... MARCELLUS: Okay.

SHIRLEY: ...and hot water, and m MARCELLUS: Any seasoning at all?

SHIRLEY: Just the Old Bay.

MARCELLUS: Just the Old Bay, SHIRLEY: That's it, yes.

MARCELLUS: Just the Old Bay.

SHIRLEY: Just the Old Bay.

MARCELLUS: Now, that is your way of doing it, or is that the general way of making coddies?

SHIRLEY: This is my way of doing and believe me, it sells a lot.

MARCELLUS: Traditionally, they'r served between crackers, and then you use a dollop of mustard.

Now, I'll tell you this, you can skip out on the crackers if you want, but don't let a brother catch you skipping out on that mustard.

But where do they come from?

The theories abound.

Some people say that they traveled here with the sailors on the tall ships, some people say Bohemia, others say enslaved people.

One thing we do know for sure is that the coddie king here in Baltimore was a man by the name of Louis Cohen.

He was a merchant, and he sold his original tasty coddies all over Baltimore, from 1910 to 1917.

Yeah, the coddie, a prime example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

Mm hmm hmm!

(people chattering) ILAN: So, Marcellus, did you eve end up picking up any Yiddish?

MARCELLUS: Bissel, bissel.

ILANB: Hey, what a mensch!

(all laugh) MARCELLUS: You know, after all t amazing people we've met and all the good food we've eaten, I think there should be a mitzvah for folks that eat at Jewish delis.

ILAN: Marcellus, Hebrew too!

(Marcellus laughs) I'm gonna pass that along to my rabbi.

RHEA: So what happened when you were all over the state?

ILAN: Oh, man, it was fun and delicious.

(all laugh) RHEA: I'm sure.

MARCELLUS: I mean going from place to place and just meeting these amazing people.

And the food!

I mean, I've gained a little weight, as you can see.

(Rhea laughs) RHEA: So were there certain deli that you particularly liked?

ILAN: I mean, I loved every place I went to.

I should say, we missed one that I so wanted to go to, or my mother-in-law really wanted me to go to, the Parkway Deli, (camera shutter clicks) so it'd get even more Jewish (laughs).

[RHEA] Oh.

MARCELLUS: I would've loved to by the Essen Room in Pikesville, but, RHEA: Really?

MARCELLUS: maybe next time.

RHEA: Oh, that's a shame.

RHEA: Well, we should go there ourselves after this is over.

MARCELLUS: Yeah.

ILAN: Okay.

I'll get the Uber.

(all laugh) RHEA: So what are some of your memories of this whole thing?

ILAN: So I think a big one for m was going to the Call Your Mother deli and seeing how there was, like, this fusion of the more traditional, kinda Eastern European Jewish flavors, and also something very modern, there was something very American about it, but then also getting the more Middle Eastern, the Sephardic flavors of sort of global Jewry.

I think that is something so unique that we can have in American Jewish delis.

RHEA: It sounds like it was a wonderful place You had a good time.

ILAN: Yeah.

RHEA: What about you, Marcellus?

MARCELLUS: Well, being the resid black man and non-Jewish man, this was a very eye-opening experience for me, you know, first off, going into multiple Jewish delis and seeing so many African Americans there, number one, but then the fact that there were so many families that were present, and I talked to them, and they talked about how Friday nights, they're all there in the deli because it gives them a sense of home, it reminds them of their bubbe, who may no longer be there, right, and so I think that the Jewish deli is kinda like this great family cheat code that is handed down from generation to generation, that so many cultures can definitely learn from.

RHEA: Well, my takeaway of the show were memories.

It reminded me of when I was very little and I used to come to Attman's with my father almost every week, and the thing that I remember most about it were the lines.

There were always huge lines, and the people in the lines were always talking to other people, people they knew, people they just met, and nobody complained about waiting in line.

MARCELLUS: Wow!

RHEA: It was part of the experie And I always had a corned beef sandwich, and I will say, I always had a corned beef sandwich, and I never said, "Lean," 'cause I think a corned beef sandwich has to have fat on it.

MARCELLUS: That's where all the good flavor is.

ILAN: There's one thing that Jewish deli's have, it is fat in their foods.

(all laugh) RHEA: That's what makes them goo ILAN: Yeah, I had the most incredible latkes of my life, aside from my mother's.

RHEA: Oh, good thing you said that, MARCELLUS: Gotta say that.

RHEA: uh-huh.

ILAN: Yes, but at the Call Your Mother deli in Georgetown, those latkes were unbelievably good!

I made everybody try them.

RHEA: Uh-huh, well, you've never tasted my latkes, but anyhow ILAN: Okay, yeah.

MARCELLUS: So for me, I learned that there is no wrong way to make a Ruben, it's one of my favorites, but I will say this, there was one deli that was in Ocean City, and they had this amazing blueberry cobbler that was incredible!

(Rhea laughs) I mean, I ate that thing, It was a, it was almost as big as this whole tray here, and I ate it slow, and I savored every moment of it.

Actually, blueberry bread pudding, not cobbler, blueberry bread pudding.

ILAN: Ah!

RHEA: Okay.

MARCELLUS: And crazy enough, the said he started making it because one day, he had too many blueberries and he needed to do something with them, and that was one of the biggest hits then.

ILAN: Wow!

RHEA: So are you a convert now?

Are you gonna go to Jewish delis a lot?

MARCELLUS: Most definitely!

(Rhea laughs) Listen, to get me a good sandwich, I'm down with the latkes.

You could put anything on my plate, with the exception of chopped liver.

RHEA: You don't like chopped liv MARCELLUS: You have to be raised with a meal like that ILAN: Maybe.

MARCELLUS: To go there, to enjoy it.

ILAN: I love chopped liver, I love gefilte fish, I love all of the, like, it's my Eastern European birthright, (laughs) I get that.

RHEA: I could forego the gefilte fish.

ILAN: Oh, Rhea (laughs) RHEA: Not really, not one of my favorites.

It's been great going on this journey with the two of you.

And remember, Jewish delis are truly something to kvell about.

(lively music) (lively upbeat music) (lively upbeat music continues) (lively upbeat music continues) (lively upbeat music continues) (lively upbeat music continues) (lively upbeat music continues) (lively upbeat music continues) [RHEA] And we'd be remiss if we didn't give a shout out to the delis that live on only in the memories of the people that noshed and kibitzed in them.

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) [Narrator] This program is made by MPT to enrich the diverse communities throughout our state and is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Thank you.